Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010 - - Shelley Rudman Focusing to Win Gold After Luge Death

Shelley Rudman will go ahead with her Winter Olympic bid for skeleton bobsleigh gold in spite of the death of a luge competitor.

The Pewsey-born athlete who went to New College, came home from the 2006 competition with a silver medal.

But she had put her decision about whether to take part on hold pending a track walk and team meeting.

The move followed the tragic accident last Friday in which Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was thrown from the track and fatally injured when he struck a metal pillar.

Shelley, who has a two-year-old daughter, Ella, with fiance and fellow skeleton competitor Kristian Bromley, had said she would compete only if she thought the track was safe.

The track, at the Whistler Sliding Centre in British Columbia, Canada, is widely said to be the world’s fastest.

After the inspection and team meeting, the British Olympic Association’s director of sport liaison, Adam Parsons, said simply: “Shelley will be competing as planned.”

The two-day skeleton competition begins on Thursday.